Odisha lecturer gets life imprisonment for killing two by sending parcel bomb as wedding gift
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Bhubaneswar (PTI): A lecturer was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Odisha's Bolangir district on Wednesday for killing two persons, including a groom, by sending a parcel bomb as a wedding gift.
Punjilal Meher, a lecturer at Jyoti Vikas College in Bhainsa, had a professional enmity with the groom's mother at the college where she worked as the principal. Due to this reason, Punjilal hatched the conspiracy to kill her son Soumya and sent the bomb as a wedding gift in 2018, the police said.
The Patnagarh Additional District Judge (ADJ) court has convicted the accused Punjilal Meher in the case and sentenced him to life imprisonment, government counsel Chittaranjan Kanungo said.
The court convicted him under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 201 (destroy evidence of a crime) of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, he said.
The court sentenced life imprisonment under two sections, 10 years of imprisonment under two charges and seven years imprisonment under another charge. Kanungo said that all the sentences would run concurrently.
"Our submission was to treat it as a rarest of rare cases. However, the court did not observe it as a rarest of rare cases because all heinous crime cases cannot be treated like that," the public prosecutor said.
He said the quantum of punishment pronounced by the court is very encouraging. It will give a positive message to the society at large.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.70 lakh on the convict. He will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, Kanungo informed media persons outside the court.
Soumya Sekhar, a man in his mid-twenties, and his 85-year-old grandmother were killed in the blast. His wife, Seema Sahoo, suffered critical injuries when a parcel bomb, disguised as a wedding gift, exploded at their Patnagarh home in Bolangir district on February 23, 2018.
The blast had taken place when the groom opened the gift.
Following a request by the new bride and her family, the then chief minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered the Crime Branch to probe into the incident.
The Crime Branch took over the investigation on March 23, 2018, and arrested Meher in April 2018. He is currently lodged in the Patnagarh sub-jail.
The Crime Branch, in its charge sheet, has accused Punjilal Meher an English lecturer at the college where the victim Soumya Sekhar’s mother Sanjukta Sahu was the principal.
The investigating agency has said that revenge was the motive behind the crime.
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Porsche car crash case exposed systemic corruption: Pune police commissioner
Pune (PTI): The Porsche car crash case exposed "systemic corruption," but the Pune Police have successfully uncovered the nexus behind the replacement of the accused juvenile's blood samples with those of his mother, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Wednesday.
The case made national headlines after the high-end car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old boy in an inebriated state mowed down motorcycle-borne IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa in the Kalyani Nagar area on May 19 last year.
"Last year’s Porsche car crash case sparked widespread discussions about Pune’s deteriorating social culture, alleged police corruption, and several other issues. Amid all the criticism, one positive aspect stood out: the case exposed systemic corruption.
"It also demonstrated how the police, working within the same system, managed to uncover the entire nexus behind the replacement of the juvenile’s blood samples with those of his mother," Kumar said while addressing Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, an initiative aimed at raising awareness against drug addiction, organised at Modern College.
He added that the juvenile has been released since he was a minor.
"However, his mother has remained in jail for over a year, and his father continues to be behind bars. Doctors from Sassoon Hospital and others involved are also still in jail," Kumar said, adding that one mistake by a child, and an attempt by his parents to cover it up, destroyed an entire family.
He said the police will follow up on this case until every guilty person is punished.
Kumar also appealed to students to stay away from intoxicating substances and drugs.
"You are not only endangering your own life but also putting your entire family at risk," he said, urging the youth not to fall prey to harmful addictions.
"Instead, stand strong and act as a force to ensure that drug abuse is curbed in your surroundings. We assure you of full police support," he added.
He further stated that if youth from all colleges unite and decide to end this menace, "the day is not far when not even one gram of drug will be sold in the city".
The investigation into the car crash had revealed that the juvenile's blood samples were replaced with those of his mother.
The roles of Dr Ajay Taware, head of the forensic department, Medical Officer Shreehari Halnor, and a hospital staffer came under scrutiny.
While the mother is currently out on bail, the juvenile’s father, Sassoon Hospital doctors Taware and Halnor, staffer Atul Ghatkamble, two middlemen, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, and others remain in jail for the alleged blood sample swap.
